"!!!"
A cold flash crossed Katrina's eyes. "The ring — where is it now?"
Vincent smiled pleasantly. "Somewhere safe, of course. You seem very interested in it."
Katrina said nothing. She twisted a strand of her hair around one finger, apparently thinking.
After a pause, Vincent leaned slightly forward. "Katrina — you told me last time that you were acting on orders from a superior when you approached us about cooperating with the Gnostic Society, or rather the Tamara Family."
"That's right."
She nodded.
"Is that superior currently in Backlund?"
"Are you trying to go around me and deal with them directly?"
"Not at all. I only heard that there was another high-sequence Witch in Backlund recently. Just had some thoughts."
The fingers playing with Katrina's hair paused for a fraction of a second. "That I couldn't say."
"Fair enough."
Vincent exchanged a few quick thoughts with Bernadette, then said: "About Lanevus — did you get an answer from the Loen royal family?"
"They said they had no idea what we were talking about. They'd never seen or detained anyone called Lanevus."
She narrowed her eyes. "Honestly, I'm not surprised. I've never believed them any more than they've believed us. We call it cooperation, but really it's all just mutual use. The moment this is over, the first ones screaming for our blood will be the Augustus Family."
A pause. "So be ready for that, Mr. A."
"Of course."
Katrina sank back against the sofa cushions. "Oh, and there's something else — something you'll probably be more interested in. The word spreading these past few days through Backlund's Beyonder underground is that the Loen royal family has been secretly having people excavate nine mausoleums from the Fourth Epoch, with plans to use them for some kind of grand ritual."
She smiled. "And the vast majority of Backlund's missing persons over recent years? Secretly abducted by MI9 to dig."
"That's not exactly surprising," Vincent said, without missing a beat. "The Church already looked into the human trafficking a while back. Information that leaked once can always leak again."
As he said it, he felt a quiet click of satisfaction inside. And it leaked because I made sure it did. The Shadow Box manoeuvre is running.
He used the moment to probe: "Speaking of that Church investigation — what came of it in the end? Do you know?"
"Oh, George III just handed over the mausoleums quite openly. Said he was trafficking people to secretly complete excavations — looking for Fourth Epoch secrets."
"And the Church believed that?"
"Whether they believed it is one thing. Whether they chose to pursue it is another. As you can see — it was dropped."
"Then why does George III still need to work with us to stage this whole spectacle to 'cover' the trafficking?"
Katrina gave a small, knowing laugh. "Perhaps the Augustus Family has reached some private arrangement with the Church. Perhaps George III has his own reasons. We're mutual users — they're not going to tell us everything."
She tilted her head. "But I did happen to pick up another piece of intelligence. I think you'll like this one much more."
Vincent raised an eyebrow.
"I know the location of one of the mausoleums. Didn't you say last time you wanted to use one of George III's mausoleums for a ritual to bring your Master down into the world?"
She blinked, smiling sweetly. "You can start preparing."
Just then, a strikingly beautiful woman hurried in and whispered something in Katrina's ear. The smile on Katrina's face faded for a second — then came back broader than before.
"Word that George III is planning to use the nine mausoleums to ascend to a higher Sequence has officially spread."
"Heh heh. Now things are getting truly interesting."
...
Sodela Palace, Queen's Borough.
George Augustus III sat on the throne, expression composed and unreadable — a crown on his head, square jaw, two thin horizontal stripes of moustache. Not far from him stood a middle-aged man wrapped in a heavy cape: black hair, blue eyes, square face, a bearing of absolute gravitas.
This was the first king of the Loen Kingdom, ancestor of the Augustus Family, Sequence 1 Hand of Order of the Justiciar Pathway — William Augustus I.
"You've grown considerably these past years."
William I looked at this descendant who might carry the kingdom to greatness, and said simply.
George III's face showed neither pride nor emotion. "From the moment the Church learned about the trafficking and began its investigation, my plan to ascend to Sequence 0 was no longer a secret."
"But precisely because of that investigation, I came to see something clearly: compared to my disrupting the rules and challenging the gods' authority by aiming for the Black Emperor, the seven Orthodox Gods are plainly far more interested in gaining one more Sequence 0 to help shoulder the weight of maintaining the Barrier."
"For that purpose, sacrificing a number of lowly and foolish kindling — that barely merits mention."
William I's brow creased slightly. "Then why not simply end your cooperation with the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order?"
"Because the gods may look past it — but the Church cannot. There needs to be an account made. Someone must bear the burden of what's been done. And we need to give the people a target for their anger."
George III said it without a flicker of hesitation. "Rest assured. This matter has already been tacitly approved."
"..."
William Augustus I was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, his voice was simply a statement: "Be careful of the seven gods… be careful of the Evernight Goddess."
...
The next morning.
Vincent prayed to Mr. Fool early and asked to speak privately with "the World."
"Do you have something already, Mr. Lovers?"
Klein had barely slept. He'd returned to the Grey Fog multiple times through the night to run divinations — and every time, the result still showed no harm — but that somehow made him feel worse, not better.
"Regarding the ring: the intelligence I have is that it may be connected in some way to the evil god the Demoness Sect worships."
"!!!"
Klein very nearly had a cardiac arrest. How did I go from bumping into Trissy by chance and getting a free ring — to being entangled with an evil god?
No wonder the divination results keep coming back the same.
I need to end this undercover business immediately. Right now.
"Understood. I'll go pass this along to my friend right away. Thank you, Mr. Lovers."
Vincent spoke quickly: "Wait — I'm not looking for you today about the ring. It's the other commission."
Klein's fingers tightened involuntarily. He kept his voice steady. "You found the person that quickly?"
"Mm."
"This person goes by the name 'Charles,'" Vincent said. "He arrived in Backlund roughly two months ago. He started by opening something called a 'Yorozuya' — basically a general-purpose shop that takes all kinds of odd commissions, not unlike a detective agency."
Yorozuya.
The word hit Klein immediately. It was from the anime Gintama. Unless Emperor Roselle had used that word in his diaries, the name alone was enough to identify the person.
"He also collected Roselle's diary during this period."
"After that, he rather abruptly 'tested into' a position at the East Borough Prosecution Office in Backlund, becoming a Prosecutor."
"A Prosecutor?"
Klein paused. With the Schemer Boon he currently held, he naturally knew what the Sequence above it was called — Prosecutor. Was this "Charles" also someone granted a Boon by the Lord of Chaos?
But a Boon didn't require the Acting Method or digestion. Why would the man actually become a Prosecutor?
Or was he reading too much into it?
"Not long after," Vincent continued, "he apparently got tangled up in Backlund's human trafficking case and resigned from the Prosecution Office. After a visit to the Red Rose Estate in the Queen's Borough, he quickly left his previous lodgings and has been moving around without a fixed address since."
Klein's pupils contracted.
Red Rose Estate. That was Prince Edessak's estate. The place where the Witch named Trissy had been held.
That was too convenient to be a coincidence.
Did this person also have some connection to the Demoness Sect? To Trissy?
"Based on what I found yesterday," Vincent said, "Charles is currently staying at a hotel in Jowood District. As for why he watched you — I don't know yet." He gave a small shrug. "After all, I don't know Mr. World's real-world identity, so I had no angle to approach it from."
"I see. I can't thank you enough."
Klein took a long breath. "I'll have Mr. Fool transfer the payment."
Then Vincent added: "Mr. World — would you like me to bring this person in and have you question him directly? I can find out why he was watching you."
He smiled. "Free of charge."
To be continued…
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